Settled in Stone
by EternalDreamer10
Summary: Bella Swan has been primed to become the next member of the Volturi since she was six months old. There is little hope of ever experiencing the freedom she reads so much about. A chance meeting with the Cullens could change everything.


Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any place or person I may write about; Credit to Stephenie Meyer

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_I was floating down a brightly lit corridor, the only thing I could see was the yellowed-alabaster ceilings above me. When I concentrated hard enough I could hear the faint voices of people around me, but when I looked to my side all I could see was the frilled edges of what ever was carrying me. _

_ My mothers face floated into my line of sight, as if she was looking down on me. Her brown hair was cropped just under her shoulder and one of her natural curls had fallen into the very same brown-doe eyes that I have. She reached one hand up to sweep it behind her ear while the other came down to adjust something around me. She was giving me a blinding smile as she looked towards someone out of my line of sight. _

_ The scenery changed and I was being pushed through some kind of opening and the ceiling changed from yellowed to marble white and green. My carrier stopped moving and I heard a male's voice ring out, welcoming us to his home. _

_ I reached out, curious as to what was happening around me when I heard a women scream and the terrified eyes of my father occupied my view. His hands reached in to lift me up and pull me close to his body. He was shielding my face in his coat and all I could hear was my mother screaming at him._

"_RUN CHARLIE!" GET HER OUT OF H---...."Her voice was abruptly cut short as I was trying desperately to catch a glimpse of what was happening._

_ I was clawing at my father's coat, trying to find a way to see her, to know she was okay. It was getting quiet, the only sound coming from a small baby somewhere close by. I was yelling at him, trying to find out what happened to my mother, but I was sure he couldn't hear me over the wailing baby's cry. _

"_Oh my God." Disbelief colored my father's tone._

_ I could feel the movement of being whipped around in the opposite direction and being jostled as my father ran. From what? I didn't know. I was still trying to wrench my face free from the confines of his jacket, but finding no purchase with my hands. _

_ I was still screaming and the baby was still wailing when we came to an abrupt halt before flying backwards, the movement of it finally being enough for my face to break free from my father's protection. _

_ I lifted my head and there were men and women laying all over the floor, with people standing over them, their red eyes shining with excitement, cruelty, and no remorse. _

_ Suddenly, I was wrenched from my father's arms by two ice cold objects grabbing at my sides. I tried once again to get a grip on the now crushing force to which I was being held when the sight of my hands distracted me from the pain, only in the realization that I was the baby, and those cries were mine. _

"_DON'T HURT HER! KILL ME, BUT LET HER LIVE.........please" The sound of my father begging for my salvation led my eyes to search for his once more. I looked over at him just as a rather large man came up behind him and lifted him off the floor with a little too much ease. _

_ The man was wearing a black robe that shrouded all of his being with the exception of his face. He twisted my father, and he let out an ear-piercing wail as he searched for my face._

"_No one leaves this place with a heart beat." He said with a laugh as he turned his head towards me. His pale lips crinkled into a contemptuous smile as he slowly leaned towards my father's neck while boring his blood red eyes into mine. _

My head flew over the side of the bed, dry heaves shaking my body. This was the same nightmare I have had every single night since I was six months old. Somewhere, around age five, I stopped screaming because of it, but it still causes some reaction every time I wake. It always stops at the same point; right as I am watching the life leave my father's eyes.

This was no ordinary night terror. This was a living-breathing memory that I couldn't forget; no matter how hard I tried. It has been seventeen years, and everytime I close my eyes, I see my parents faces, see the shear terror in their eyes, as they were taken from me. Sometimes it is like it was tonight, me as a baby, being pushed through the halls of the Volturi's castle in my pink and brown stroller. Other times, I am my seventeen year old self, my mind filling in the blanks of what I didn't see, as I try in vain to save my parents.

My parents were newlyweds. Charlie and Renee had met and fallen in love in high school, married when my father was twenty and my mother nineteen. This is according to the marriage license I probed through on the rare occasion that I was allowed to have some contact with the life I should have lead. In their obituary, which didn't come out until a full year after the police stopped searching, it said they were taking a late honeymoon/vacation to celebrate the birth of their only daughter, Isabella Marie Swan; Marie after my Grandmother. My obituary was right below theirs.

Not many people can recall a moment from their six month old mind, but mine included every detail. My parents were suckered in by the succubean ways of one of the lovely residents of this castle. Heidi was fishing and my parents took the bait.

They walked these same hallways I walk everyday. They thought they were on a privileged tour of the inner workings of Volterra Italy, when really, they were to became someone's meal. I still don't know which ones actually delivered the final blow, I fill those blanks in with the ones I hate the most.

I do remember who was meant to take mine. Jane, the one I hate and fear the most. I am pretty positive the feeling is mutual. You see, she didn't get to eat that day, apparently that is something you never get over.

Jane likes to play with her food and I was no exception. Apparently torture is something she takes great pleasure in. As the story goes - or so I hear, Jane had tried to use her "talent" on me, but, as it turns out, I was immune. Not only to her "gift," but to all the other mental games my keepers can play.

My captors are less than human. In fact, I am convinced they have no amount of humanity left in any millimeter of their cold-dead bodies. They are vampires. The vampires from our greatest nightmares. They hunt the very things they once use to be. Of course the leaders of this particular coven are the most feared of all. They are the law and order of vampires; they make the rules and they enforce them.

Once the leader of this coven, Aro, found that I was immune to their ways, he made the executive decision to keep me until I came of an appropriate age to become just like them. Much to the displeasure of his right hand man, Caius, and the indifference of his other "brother," Marcus.

In these past seventeen years Aro has taken great pleasure in pruning me to be his next greatest treasure. He has high hopes that once I am changed I will become a valuable asset to his army. Another trophy to add to his already large showcase. He has spent thousands of years gathering the best of the best for his coven. He has sought out many promising humans who he thought would carry some valuable talent. Some have made it, like Jane and Alec, while others have not.

If you are chosen and survive the three day suffering that is transformation, only to come out having no talent at all, you will be destroyed. Just like the countless number of humans I see pass through these halls every week. If I prove fruitless, this will be my fate.

I both dread and fervently hope that I come out as an "average" vampire. While I have dreamed about the moment I will get to join my parents again, I feel a deep sadness for the life I never got to live.

**A/N: This is a tester chapter. I have been a fan-fiction fan since forever, but this is my first attempt at posting something. I would love some reviews on whether or not I should continue with this story. I don't know if any of this has been done before, but this will be a story about Bella dealing with the cards she has been given and trying to escape the impossible walls of the Volturi. Yes the Cullens will be around in the near future; that is if you lovelies want me to continue. **

**On a side note, I am looking to Beta! While my story contains many grammatical errors, I am far better at catching others. Please check my profile for further information on my abilities.**


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